


The Paella's Secret Recipe

by boxy_foxy



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 14:46:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2432618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxy_foxy/pseuds/boxy_foxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spain came back from his market shopping as he began to make his favourite traditional dish: the Paella. While he was at it, Romano came by his house, in his usual sour mood. Spain thought he might as well give a test-taste to Romano on the dish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic was uploaded on Fanfiction.Net since 2009 and WOW. That was long ago. I've decided to share here as well, since this account is new. Also, if I'm doing something new, please let me know. Now go and enjoy.
> 
> Also, translations-  
> ¡Ah, que emoción! : How exciting!
> 
> Maledetto a quella brutta e grossa patata! Farò a pezzi a lui e a suoi muscoli schifosi! : Damn at that ugly and big potato! I'll make him and his disgusting muscles into pieces!
> 
> ¿Que pasa? : What's up?
> 
> Cretino : Dumb, jerk, jackass, etc.
> 
> Ho una fame da lupi : Literal translation: I have a hunger of a wolf. Meaning that Romano is exaggerating how starving he is. 
> 
> Che cavolo? : What the fuck/hell?
> 
> Arañitas : It's a side dish in which resembles like tiny spiders. The ingredient can be either squid, yuca, plantains, etc.

  Spring has finally arrived at this town. The birds from the trees nearby chirped their sweet, melodic music; the flowers bloomed beautifully with their fragrance drifting in the air; and the cool, fresh air rushed along with the blazing rays of the sun. Around the neighbourhood streets, a young Spaniard hummed as he walked back home, carrying a bagful of grocery shopping. Spain was in his usual good mood.

  Every step he took he made a little leap of joy, enjoying his carefree life. He swung the entrance gates open, showing his usual bright smile as he shoved the key into the keyhole of the door.

“¡Ah, que emoción! I cannot wait till I work on it,” said Spain gleefully. It seemed that Spain was eager on something exciting. He walked straight ahead to the kitchen, laid the groceries on the counter, and opened the windows wide, letting the fresh breeze rushing in. While Spain observed the landscape, he placed his hands on his waist, smiling at the wonders and tranquility of spring.

  However, the peace didn’t last very long. Somewhere nearby, he could hear an angry screeching of profanities.

“Maledetto a quella brutta e grossa patata! _Farò a pezzi a lui e a suoi muscoli schifosi!”_

_Romano came storming at Spain’s front door with a dangerous glare on his face. He banged against the door many times, waiting for Antonio to open it._

_“Spaaaain! You bastaard! Open this stupid door!”_

_Spain sighed, knowing already who his guest was. He went for the door and opened it. He greeted his usual sunny smile._

_“_ ¡ _Hola Romano!_ ¿ _Que pasa?”_

_“Don’t play dumb with me Spain. You know_ _exactly_ _what’s going on. My fratellino is still with that darn potato-brain bastard! God I hate him!”_

_Romano intruded into Antonio’s house without much of needing his permission to enter. He kept grunting with anger as he threw himself onto the couch, with his feet on the table._

_Antonio heaved a huge sigh as he shut the door. He sat on the sofa facing opposite to where Romano was sitting._

_“Santos cielos Lovino. What did Ludwig have done this time?”_

_“I’ll tell you what he has done. He’s still hanging with Feliciano and manipulating him!”_

_Spain let out a nervous laugh. He never understood why Romano gets over-reacted with Germany, even though he has no ill intensions with Italy._

_Guess it is normal for Romano to concern about Italy. They ARE both brothers after all_ _, thought Spain._

_Romano continued on his ranting on how Germany was a sly bastard into tricking his brother and etcetera. It may not be the most exciting topic to be constantly talking about but Romano didn’t really have anyone else to talk about these things except Spain. Antonio would always listen his ranting and not get bored from him. He would always go back to Spain whenever he gets upset or felt he was being targeted at._

_Spain restlessly looked at the wall clock. Romano stopped his conversation when he noticed Spain wasn’t paying attention to him._

_“Oi, bastard Spain! Pay attention to me, dammit! I had one hell of a day and you got the balls to ignore me!”_

_Spain turned his head quickly. He said in an apologetic tone, “S-sorry Romano! It’s just I had to do something that’s really important.”_

_Romano raised his eyebrow curiously. “Something important?”_

_“_ Sí. There’ll be a cooking paella competition in this town and I just bought some ingredients for making the best paella ever!” Spain’s eyes glowed with happiness and excitement for competing on the upcoming cooking event. Romano couldn’t have cared less.

“Eeh? You’re making your traditional food?”

“Yup. The problem is that I’m not sure if it’s delicious enough to be considered the best paella and I haven’t even made it yet.”

  Spain was giving an impression in hinting something to Romano. Romano stood up straight and crossed his arms, tapping his foot impatiently.

“So? What’s your point?”

“Well, I need a food taster to evaluate how good it is and since you’re here, you could be the food taster.”

  Spain looked at Romano with his pleading, twinkling emerald eyes. Romano responded with a disgusted look.

“Fine, fine. I’ll taste your dumb paella.”

“¡Ah! ¡Gracias Romano! You will not regret it!”

Antonio got overly agitated; he grabbed on Romano’s arm and pulled his arm hard out from the couch.

“Aiya! Watch it, cretino!”

  Both of them entered the kitchen; Spain has set up the cooking tools and ingredients out, wore a white apron on him and began to make himself busy. Romano just laid his head on the other side of the kitchen counter, observing Antonio’s passionate cooking spree.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

  The rich spices and food soon filled the room with its exotic aroma. Just one swift smell of it was enough to make your mouth watering. Romano cannot handle under the pressure of his hunger anymore.

“Gaaah! Damn it Spain! When will the food be ready?!” He banged his fists furiously on the dining table. He swore he could hear Spain laughing at his childish behaviour in the kitchen.

“It’s actually done. Just wait a sec,” said Spain. As he turned off the fire stove, he brought out a wooden board and placed it on the dining table and went back for the paella pan. Romano could see the steam rising from the rice food as Spain set the pan on the board.

“Finally! Ho una fame da lupi.” Without considering his table manners, Romano scooped onto his plate a bountiful of paella rice and savagely shoved the spoon in his mouth.

  Just one bite was enough for Romano’s insides going wild with explosion. The fiery taste of the sweet spices melted on his taste buds, the fried calamaris were cooked to a golden-colour and had a wonderful crispy texture, and bits of other vegetables, seafood, and chicken were done nicely. Romano hadn’t taste anything like this in his entire life.

“Holy crap Spain!  This is AMAZING! I’m quite surprise it tasted differently from the others you made for the past years. Just what did you put in this one?”

Spain gave a smirked look. “That’s because I used a _special_ ingredient that I bought.”

  Romano looked at Antonio from his plate, raising his eyebrow suspiciously. “Special? The hell you mean by that, you idiot.”

  Spain didn’t take much offense to Romano’s insults. He just happily grabbed on a chair next to Romano and sat on it, telling his story.

“Well. At first, I went to the wet market to buy some fresh meat and seafood since it would be much better if I serve my paella nicely done and fresh without buying those industrialized, chemical supermarket goods because you know they—“

“Can you stop side tracking and get onto the topic you idiot?!”

  Spain realized his side-tracking of the story; he gave an apologetic smile to Romano. He has the tendency to be excited on telling a story and get side-tracked to another event that happened that has nothing to do with the main point of the story. Romano must give credit to Spain that he can be the most foolish and clueless bastard he ever meant in the planet (well okay, same goes to Feliciano).

“Haha. Sorry. Got a little excited over here. Anyways... I just came from the wet market and thought to take a visit to the farmers’ market to grab some vegetables and spices. I was just roaming around when this Gypsy woman was calling onto me to her market stand.”

   Romano suddenly gave a smirk chuckle. “Eeh? A Gypsy woman? Never knew you’re suddenly becoming popular with the ladies, Antonio.” Hoping to see a hint of embarrassment from his teasing, he leaned over to Spain’s face, looking at it.

  Spain was taken by surprise, blushing furiously. “N-no! She wanted to sell some things to me. That was all.” Spain felt himself awkward as he spattered out his words. Romano can’t help himself to laugh inside his head. Spain took his time to compose himself.

“Well, she showed me her market sell on vegetables and spices she was selling. Then all of the sudden, she showed me this.”

  A small thud came out as he placed out an object on the table. Romano stared at it blankly. It was a small, cream-coloured curved bottle with writings on it.

“Che cavolo? The hell is this thing?”

“It’s this new spice recipe she made it uniquely.”

“Uniquely? What nonsense are you sprouting about, you tomato-freak? Explain it.”

“Well, she said it’s not like the other spice brands. Guess you can say it’s special. “

_Special_ , thought Romano. _How in the world would a spice be so damn special?_ The way Spain described it sounds as if it was from a fantasy world where England would go about with his mythical friends.

_Maybe I’m just imagining things._

“She even said she only made these in VERY special occasions and were very limited. She only made five of them and hadn’t sold them to anyone but me. Must be lucky to be to catch these babies, no? And like you said, the paella I just made tasted WAY better than the others I made!”

“Well, yeah I did. I’m sure you’ll win that competition Spain. If not, then I’ll be pissed for real at the judges for not choosing you and kick them in their culi!”

  Even though his tone sounded stubborn and tough, underneath him he was just a pitiful coward like his brother. Spain laughed uncontrollably out loud to his remark.

“Heh. I appreciate your support very much. It means a lot to me. Now, let’s feast on this deliciosa paella before it gets cold.”

  Romano nodded in agreement and continued to eat his plate. Spain began to fill up his plate and ate up the rice. The two men continued to enjoy their lunchtime peacefully.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The clock hanging from the wall ticked every second it went by. It was 15:00 pm and the two nations were done with their best feast they ever had.

“Damn Spain. The paella is seriously good! And those fried, black squids that you served as appetizer... what is called again?”

“Ah! You mean the _Arañitas.”_

_“No wonder you called them like that. They DO look like little spiders.”_

  Romano laid back on the chair, stretching out his legs and arms. He suddenly felt his body feeling clumsy. He gave out a big yawn as he slumped back on the table.

“Feeling tired?” Spain leaned forward to make sure Romano was feeling okay.

“Yeah, somehow I am. I felt as if I could collapse and fall asleep any moment.”

“Ahah. Guess that’s what good food does to you. I’m feeling tired as well.”

He stopped and thought for awhile, trying to compromise something.

“If you want to sleep now, you are welcome to stay here. I still have the guest room.”

He lifted his head at Spain, his eyes dragging him to sleep. “If you say so,” said Romano drowsily.

  Spain watched him as he brought himself up from the chair. “You’re not coming? Thought you said you’re tired?”

  Antonio replied back with his smile. “I will. Just thought I should clean up the plates and store the leftovers and the ingredients before they gone bad.”

“Fine, if that’s what you want to do. I’ll just head back to bed.”

  He left Spain with his cleaning duty and took the stairs. _If I remember correctly, the bedroom room should be upstairs on the far corner_. His hand moved upwards on the handle as he climbed to the second floor. Once he finally reached the floor, he walked along the corridor leading to the bedroom. Even though Spain’s house remained the same for over the centuries, he noticed the Spaniard has changed drastically the decorations and furniture inside. He noticed he kept some antiques as household decorations.

   On the wall, he saw paintings of Spain’s conquistadors, his kings and queens, and his latest country leaders. He stopped on his steps when he caught a glimpse of one painting.

  It was Spain on this one. But something about him looked different on the portrait from the usual Antonio he used to know. This Spain was wearing in his conquistador clothing, holding his sword on his hand. Next to him was his national flag pierced onto the ground. The landscape had a river flowing by with forest tress scattered all over. This must have been Spain’s Conquistador Age while he was guiding with his Spanish rulers into the American continent.

  His usual, bright smile wasn’t shown on this portrait. He looked serious, determined, and had a dark-look on his face. This wasn’t the Spain that Romano used to know.

  But what the heck, it’s not like he wanted for Spain to tell him about his colonization era. It was just Spain never mentioned him on what he did every time he travelled to the outside seas or his journeys through the lands of the New World or the thought of Spain fighting the natives of the American Empire...

  His thoughts suddenly snapped; he brought his senses back to reality. His body suddenly became heavier and heavier every minute. He better move faster to the bedroom if he didn’t want to fall asleep on the floor.

_Why should I bother thinking over pointless things? I should better go to the bedroom._

The Italian finally reached to the bedroom door and entered as soon as he turned the doorknob open.

  There was a sense of familiar atmosphere hanging in the room. The room actually had a bedchamber in it; an exquisite Persian carpet from the Islamic period; the colour of the wallpaper was stained with a bloody maroon texture; and finally the ceiling engraved with golden spiral shapes decorated on its white, soft marble.

  It’s been awhile since he visited his old room. It may not be long ago since he was been here but it felt like an eternity.

  Romano went to the window and opened wide the two doors wide. The fresh, cool breeze blew gently into the room, making the room temperature pleasant. He then closed the curtain drapes to block the sunray shining through the window. He might as well enjoy his sleep in a dim room.

  He hoped under the warm covers of the double-sized bed, cuddled under its sheets, and he dozed off in his sleep. The distant noises of chirping birds and the grasshoppers sang in harmony as the young Italian fell deeply into his unconscious mind, silencing all his senses from the outside world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romano is starting to feel weird... and Spain seems to be a different person.

It felt hours passed by as Romano slept peacefully and happily like a cat sunbathing under the sun. His tranquility didn’t last long as he felt a hand nudging constantly against his shoulder. A soft, gentle voice called out his name into his ear. Romano grunted in annoyance, struggling to go back to sleep.  
“Oye Romano. Wake up.”  
He felt once more the stranger’s hand. He slowly opened his eyelids and stood up straight, facing the blurry image in front of him. He stared blankly at the figure for a minute; he rubbed his eyes to clear his blurriness and stare back at the person in front of him.  
Spain was sitting on the bed, smiling at him. But something felt unusually different about him. He cannot put his finger on it but he could perceive something strange was going to happen.  
“What is it, you bastard? I’m trying to sleep here.”  
The Spaniard continued to smile. He leaned close to Romano’s face; his dazzling and intense emerald eyes pierced into his. His mind stood frozen for a moment, not able to make a reaction.  
“W-w-what the hell are you doing?! Don’t scare me like that you idiot! You seriously are making me angry.”  
Antonio didn’t pay in mind to his insults. He moved his body closer to Romano’s, lightly pushing the Italian down on the bed. Now he has the upper hand, revealing his devilish smile. Romano gulped.  
“Aww Lovi. You sound cute when you get mad at me. It makes me want to gobble you up whole.”  
“Wha?!”  
He cannot believe what he was seeing. The person in front of him wasn’t Spain at all. This guy in reality was a wolf in disguise, ready to attack his prey with his predatory, hungry eyes.  
He never knew that Spain was this kinky enough to do such things. Okay, he had to admit he can a bit kinky at times but there are certain levels of kinkiness and for sure this is OVER of Spain’s line.  
Romano was lying there, paralyzed. Spain, chuckling at such a sight, sealed his lips into Romano’s.  
He could feel his hot, warm breath rushing into his body. He closed his eyes shut, unable to break off the kiss. He felt himself uncomfortable as Spain’s tongue wrapped around his, feeling the wet and slimy foreign saliva entering into his mouth.  
Romano flushed in embarrassment. His body suddenly felt hot and tight. He had no clue what was going on.  
Both of their lips were finally broken off. Romano gasped in agony. The oxygen finally rushed back into his lungs. The kiss was seriously deep and painful for him to breathe. He slowly opened his eyes halfway, dazing at Antonio.  
Spain reacted to his gaze with a smile; he once again leaned forward to the side of his neck and gnawed gently on the flesh. A small pale red colour appeared.  
“Gah! Stop it Spain! Don’t make me head butt in your stomach like I usually do!” His response to the hickey wasn’t at all pleasant.  
“Oh? If you really hate it so much, wouldn’t you have done that about minutes ago while I was kissing you?”  
His expression turned diabolical. Spain has become a flirtatious and sex-maniac incubus.  
O dio mio. What the hell is going on?! What’s with Spain?! Why he’s acting like this?!  
Spain was still at Romano’s neck, licking his love mark. He then followed down to the chest area, sucking and licking on his left nipple. He gave few gentle nibbling, causing to Romano to squeal with horror.  
“Spain! C-cut it out!”  
Antonio did not heed to his words. He continued to suckle on his nipple.  
His right hand took its next destination on the waist area. He slowly tucked his hand under the sides of the boxers, tenderly stroking the hip. He tugged deeper on the boxers’ behind, savagely grabbing on the buttocks. Romano whelped.  
“What the hell think you’re doing?!”  
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to have sex with you,” said Spain firmly.  
What’s with the direct response?!  
His boxers were suddenly removed, leaving him fully naked on the bed.  
“Now then. Shall we?”  
“W-what?”  
Spain began to undress himself and leaned his body close enough for intimidate contact. Suddenly, everything turned black.  
The house became silent. Series of panting and moaning sounds echoed in the room.  
“N-no... Stop it..”  
Romano felt himself shaking helplessly under Spain’s embracing arms. Antonio kissed at his nape, his hands wondering all over the body. The hands were then unexpectedly lowered to his vital organ region.  
Romano gave out a surprise jolt.  
“Ah! Not that! Please...”  
He could feel Antonio’s warm breath against his neck. His body reacted with intense desire for sexual pleasure and hot, passionate sex from Spain. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him.  
Spain’s hands began to invade the lower parts. He spread the legs wider, sliding in between the butt cheeks. He raised his left hand to his face, licked his index and middle fingers and went back to slide them into Romano’s vital hole.  
“Hey! Spain! A-ah...”  
He twitched uncontrollably as Spain’s fingers shoved around in circles. His body sweated profusely and moaned seductively.  
“S-Spain..”  
The way he called out his name lovingly seemed so off for him but he can’t help to feel great.  
The fingers gave its final and deep push into the hole. Romano’s mind went into a blank state. His eyes cannot see his surroundings but he can hear his crying on Spain’s name.  
“N-no... Antonio... Aaah.... Stop..... it... CUT IT OUT!”  
His body jolted from his bed, his eyes widen with panic. The room radiated with a dim, radiating copper rays from the far horizon. Romano looked at the alarm clock on the night stand.  
“It’s 16:40 o’clock?”  
Shocked from what just happened, he came to his senses and looked around for Spain. It seemed he was nowhere to be found.  
Was it..... a dream?  
He gulped down really hard. He hoped it was. It better be. But how would he know whether the dream was true or not? He thought alternate ways to answer his question.  
He looked under his bedcovers. The sheets looked clean and he was still wearing his boxers. It still wasn’t enough to justify his answer. He began to whisper his prayers.  
He tossed the sheets away and jumped out off the bed. Standing on his two legs, he became puzzled. His butt didn’t hurt at all. He patted it to make sure of it. It wasn’t sore at all.  
“Thank god. My ass is still fine.”  
This justified everything. The sex he had with Spain was all just a dream... just a dream.  
His stomach began to make uncomfortable growling sounds. He clutched to his stomach to quieten his stomach. Somehow his body acted weirdly today. He thought he might take a visit to the kitchen and drink some water or medication to make his body better.  
He picked up the bed sheets, wrapped it around himself, and left the bedroom. He walked slowly down the corridor. As he walked by, he could hear the snores coming from a meter away. With a sense of curiosity, he followed the source of the snoring and stood in front of the door.  
He twisted the doorknob as slowly and quietly as he could possibly do; he poked his head into the room, seeing a motionless figure under the bed sheets.  
Spain was still sleeping. Thinking that it wasn’t the best time to disturb him, Romano shut the door as he went downstairs to the kitchen.  
He began his search around the kitchen cabinets, trying to find any kind of medications he could take. It’s not the fact that he felt sick or he was about to throw up, but it felt that his body had a strange tingling sensation; that it wanted to burst out of its surface and be free. Whatever it was, it didn’t make him pleased at all.  
He wondered if the spice that Spain used was the cause of it. He doubts that the food would be the accomplice to his strange reaction. He went to the kitchen table and found the spice container Spain was showing to him earlier. He took the bottle and read the label contents glued onto it.  
There was no ingredient contents section, nor any of those dietary contents. He only found just one single phrase in curse handwriting. He read it out loud.  
Tus profundos y íntimos secretos serán revelados  
It seemed it was written in Spanish. He tried to translate into his head what the phrase meant (all thanks to Spain’s Spanish lessons and the fact that both Italian and Spanish are similar languages).  
“’Your deepest and intimate secrets will be revealed?’ What kind of shit is this?! Some hell of advertisement it is.”  
His words broke off. He looked back at the bottle once again and went back on processing his thoughts. Something just struck him in his mind and it wasn’t a nice thought as well. Romano gaped with terror as he stared back at the innocent-looking bottle.  
.................  
Back at upper floor, Spain was still snoozing in his bedroom. He laid on the coversheets, drooling on his pillowcase. He muttered out the words “tomatoes” and “Romano” countless times. Made people wondering what he was dreaming out (Uhm, he’s dreaming about Romano and tomatoes? xD).  
A sudden thudding noise from downstairs woke Spain. With his eyes feeling droopy, he looked questionably what was going on. His question has finally come with an answer.  
“SPAAAAAIN! YOU FUCKING JERK! YOU DID THIS TO ME! FIX IT, DAMNIT!”  
The door suddenly busted open from Romano’s kick; Antonio’s expression turned surprised. He wasn’t sure what was going on but for sure he hasn’t done anything wrong. I mean, just minutes ago he was sleeping. Expecting a punch, Spain shut his eyes as a reflex.  
Instead, he felt a couple of arms embraced around him. He re-opened his eyes, seeing Romano hugging him. He flinched with shocking realization of such a rare event.  
“Spaaaain! Your stupid spice did something to me! I just had the weirdest dream and I cannot relax now!”  
The Italian wailed desperately. Spain could feel gushes of tears spilled from him. He patted his head, trying to calm him down.  
“Eh, sorry. I didn’t know the spice would be that bad for you. If it would make you sleep better, you could stay with me till morning.”  
Romano looked up to him, his eyes still wet from his tears. So far, his body didn’t feel strange at from the minute he stepped into the room. And knowing that he’s a coward, he didn’t want to spend the night alone.  
Without much saying, Romano pushed away from Spain and dug under the covers like a rabbit. Watching at his strange ramped behaviour, Spain chuckled under his breath before he settled back to his bed. Both nations continued with their short nap.  
The silence was then broken off.  
“Hey Spain.”  
“Yes Romano?”  
“If you do ANYTHING to me while I’m sleeping, you’ll pay.”  
“W-what did I do?!”  
“S-shut up! Go to sleep!”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Next morning has arrived. Both nations were up and fully dressed.  
Looking at the bottle in his hand, Romano began to talk with Spain if anything strange happened to him.  
Spain looked at him confusingly.  
“Huh? Did I feel strange yesterday? No, not really. Wait... are you saying that the spice did something to you in your dream that you were talking about yesterday?”  
Romano coughed.  
“Of course not! What crappy nonsense are you talking about?! Just shut up and concentrate on your competition!”  
“Yeah, you’re right. Plus, not sure people would be pleased if they ate spice that does weird things to them,” said Spain teasingly. He went back on chopping the tomatoes.  
Looking back at the bottle, Romano was lost in his thoughts. He kept why the spice reacted to him instead of Spain.  
He had to admit, it was one heck of a spice to be able to work on him.

 

 

It’s because Spain is an open-minded person compared to Romano. Spain’s emotions are free to be expressed and not to be concerned into concealing themselves. As for Romano, his were trapped, not wanting to express due to timid behaviour. Just one pinch of spice is enough to unlock your emotions, going wild and free and also revealing out deepest secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you enjoy reading this story. A sequel to this title is already made but it's currently hiatus/WIP mode. I'll publish on what I have so far. Crits are welcome and so are grammar corrections. Because I'm not at all perfect at writing.


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